The Sender's Secret
by Jimmy Casket
Summary: (Slight AU) It is a story similar to the first book in the series but instead of four children passing the tests, a fifth child passed the tests. Will this 5th child to secrets that we never knew? And what does the Sender know about the children's past? Rated T for violence
1. First Meetings and Strange Circumstances

**First Meetings and Strange circumstances**

**Jared**

"Are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?" This is what the newspaper Jared was reading said, he found it odd. Most of the times an ad would be addressed to the adults, or parents, but never to children. Jared was Curious, and he decided that he wanted to go, but he would have to convince the orphanage director. He was an orphan, and like any orphan lived in an orphanage. Jared knew that he would have to convince the orphanage director, as he prepared to go into the Orphanage director's office, he tried to plan out what he would do, and finally he knocked on the door.

"Enter" The voice of the Orphanage director said.

"Um hello" Jared said, taking a seat in a chair.

"Ah Jared, you are here about the ad in the paper this morning?" The director said.

"Uh yeah how did you know?" Jared asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"I saw the article as well, and I must admit I am quite curious as to what this is about, so yes, you may go there provided you tell me what it is about." The director replied.

"Alright, the test is tomorrow." Jared said.

"Then you had best go get some sleep."

And with that the conversation ended. The next morning arrived, the morning that Jared had the test. He, like a very large number of children, arrived to take the test. There was a strange lady in the front, she seemed to be the one who ran the tests, and he knew that she would be the one to grade them. She distributed the test, and for some strange reason, many of the kids who got them did not seem distressed at all. Then once Jared got the test he discovered why. There were a few basic questions that made sense to be there, a few geometry, some basic English, but then Jared reached the stranger questions. The first of these questions was, _Do you watch TV? _This made Jared pause, he watched the news, but even then he couldn't stand it. He rarely even was in the same room with a TV, he almost seemed to avoid them entirely. For that question he put No. the next question was equally strange, it said, _Do you listen to the radio? _Again Jared paused, he thought he listened to it, but at the same time he knew he didn't. For this question he also put no. There were many questions that were easy, and hard, but at the same time there were only 2 others that caught his attention, one of them asked _Are you brave?_ Jared decided on that one that would put _I sincerely hope I am_. The other that caught his attention is a very strange chess move. A chess board, it had all pieces but one black pawn moved, and it asked if by the normal rules of chess was that move possible, after a second he put yes. After the test he heard a few people saying that move was impossible, which made him very distressed in the fact that he may cost himself the test. Finally the lady at the front finished grading the tests.

"Alright if you completed the test, you are to report to the monk building at no later than 1 o'clock." The lady said, "I will now read the names of the children admitted into the second phase. At the monk building you will join children from other sessions."

Just before she was about to read the names, the boy in front of Jared asked a question, he asked if there would be a pencil sharpener and the women said if one was needed, there would be one. The very strange thing however was that the boy asked this before anything else happened, before she even read the names. Then the room became quiet, and she read the names.

"Reynard Muldoon, Jared Mills." Jared was so happy, but he decided to hide it, "That is all, the rest of you are dismissed."

Several hours later, Jared was walking up the stairs to the monk building which it took him a long time to reach. The only other boy who was there was near him, and they were both walking silently into the building. There was a girl a bit of a ways ahead talking to a second girl, a girl who was tossing her pencil into the air, and just as Jared believed it wouldn't work out, and it didn't. She dropped her pencil into a storm grate, and somehow they knew that something would happen. By they he meant him and the other boy. They glanced at each other, and decided that they would be helping the girl. While the other boy talked to the girl, Jared examined the grate. There was a very small chance they would be able to get past it, but while he was doing this, the other boy came up with a better solution. While Jared was examining the grate, the other boy broke his pencil in half and handed half of it to girl.

"Thank you for trying to help me." The girl said, "I'm Rhonda."

"I'm Reynard Muldoon, but you can call me Reynie." The boy, now known as Reynie said.

"I'm Jared Mills." The Jared said.

"Well, Jared and Reynie, I'd like to thank you for helping me." Rhonda said.

"No problem, but really we should be getting inside." Reynie said, starting toward the entrance.

"No, I really want to thank you." She said, this time reaching for her pack.

"We have to get in." Jared said.

"I want to offer you the answers to the test." She said.

"No thanks." Both boys said at the same time, and they walked inside with a girl watching them, one who was very surprised they turned her down. Reynie sat in front, and then Jared sat behind him to make sure he wouldn't be tempted. After he finished the test (Which was the hardest test yet until he discovered it was a puzzle) He noticed the girl dropped her answers, and he saw Reynie kick them aside. Finally Reynie finished, only a few moments before time was up. After a while the test lady finished grading the tests. Finally she said the name of those who passed the test.

"If I call out your name, you have passed on to the third stage and are to see me after the test." The lady said, "Reynard Muldoon, Jared Mills, the rest of you are dismissed."

The two boys went up to the front.

"Alright, you two boys go wait in the room down the hall; I will come get you when it is time for the third stage, and tell you what to do." The women said, obediently the boys went down the hall only to find a third boy in the room. This third boy, was completely bald, and was wearing spectacles. He was dressed quite ordinary, and for some strange reason, he seemed to be polishing his glasses every five minutes. The boys sat there in awkward silence for a few minutes, and then Reynie turned to Jared and started a conversation.

"So, I'm Reynie." Reynie said, formally introducing himself to Jared and the other boy.

"Nice to meet you Reynie, I'm Jared." Jared replied, looking at the third boy.

"I'm Sticky." The third boy said.

"So are you here for the third test?" Reynie asked the other two.

Both of the other boys nodded

"I took the second test earlier this morning, at roughly 9, the test ended at 10. If I hadn't had an apple I may have starved." Sticky said.

"Did anyone else aside from you pass the test?" Reynie said.

"No, which was odd because…"Sticky started.

"Because someone tried to cheat?" Jared asked.

"Yes, how did you know?" Sticky asked.

"There was someone in our group who cheated." Reynie explained.

"Did she have…" Sticky started again.

"Long green hair and dropped her pencil down a sewer grate?" Jared asked.

"Yes, do you think she was a part of the test?" Sticky asked.

"Possibly." Reynie said.

Before any of them could say another word a girl came running into the room. This girl had blond hair tied into a pony tail, she was dressed in ordinary clothing, and she carried a bucket at her side.

"Why were you running?" Reynie asked.

"Because it was faster." The girl replied.

"What's with the bucket?" Sticky asked.

"I use it to carry items I think are handy." The girl replied, "I'm Kate."

The boys reintroduced themselves and began to talk to Kate, they talked for a while and learned that she had passed the test because she saved the test lady from the parents of those who had not passed, then after about 5 minutes, Kate revealed she was 12( and got the boys to reveal they were all 11) and started questioning Jared about the satchel he carried at his side.

"So what's the satchel for?" Kate asked.

"To carry around my books." Jared replied.

"Your what?" Stick said, suddenly taking an interest in the conversation.

"My books, here let me show you." Jared said, opening his Satchel.

Inside there were a surprising number of books for an average sized satchel. There were books on mathematics, a few books on code, a leather bound journal( which Jared refused to say what it was), and several novels and other books. Before any of them could say another word (Including Kate starting to say what was in here bucket) the test giver came back.

"Alright, you all are to report to room 7-b." The lady said, then she walked out.

The four of them walked out of the room, and went to the stairs. They walked up to the seventh floor, and started looking for 7-b. First there was 7-a, then 7-c, there was a door between 7-a and 7-c which the children assumed was 7-b. Suddenly a man was behind them.

"When I tell you to, you will walk into that room and follow the instructions, are you ready?" The man said.

"Wait, first I'm Kate, that's Reynie, Sticky, and Jared." Kate said, introducing herself, "Now then who are you?"

"You may call me Milligan." The man said, "Now then the first of you to go is… George."

"Didn't you hear me? Kate, Reynie, Sticky, Jared. There's no George." Kate argued.

"Actually my real name is George." Stick said.

Sticky went through the door, then after a while Milligan returned and said the name of the next person to go.

"The next one of you to go is Jared." Milligan said.

And then with that Jared stepped through the door into the unknown, not knowing what he would find on the other side of the door.


	2. Puzzles and Mazes

**Puzzles and Mazes**

**Jared**

Jared walked into the room, at first he wasn't sure he was in the right room. The room resembled a very strange chess board, Jared was standing on a red circle, there was a red circle on the floor in front of the door across the way, and between the circles there were a series of black, blue, and a few yellow, squares. On the wall above the door there was a sign that said _Get to the other side of this room without stepping on blue or Black Square. _Jared examined the floor more closely, and then he realized that the puzzle and he walked right across the room. He was met by Milligan and Sticky on the other side. Sticky started to say something but then Milligan shushed him.

"You may watch, but do not speak." He said, and then he went to go get the next person to go.

The next person to go was Reynie, he looked at the sign, chuckled, and walked across the same way Jared had. And then it was Kate's turn, Kate first solved it by lassoing the door knob on the other side of the room, and tight rope walked over the room, then she was forced to do it again without the rope, she used the bucket as a rolling ball, and then she was forced to do it a third time without her bucket. Then she just walked across on her hands. Milligan sighed.

"Never mind, you pass." Milligan said.

He then took them through a sewer system, and they came out near a house, then Milligan was gone and standing on the front porch was non-other than Rhonda, the girl who had cheated.

"Rhonda? What are you doing here?" Reynie asked.

"She was a part of the test." Jared said, looking at her more closely. She was an adult who had made herself look younger.

"Yes I was part of the test, now then are you ready for the next test?" Rhonda asked.

"Is it going to be hard?" Sticky asked.

"You should be able to do it with your eyes closed." Rhonda said encouragingly

"Alright but who is going first?" Jared asked.

"You, step inside when you are ready." Rhonda said.

Jared took a deep breath, and stepped inside the door. He found himself in a room with several panels on the wall, he looked at the room. There were 3 exits not counting the one he came in. He took the one straight ahead, the light in the room he was in went out, and the light in the next one lit up. He looked at the panel on the wall to see if he could use it to turn on the lights, unfortunately he discovered it was purely for decoration. He examined the panel more closely, it had 4 arrows, one that was a squiggly arrow that pointed to the door to his right, one that was green pointing to the door he came through, a red arrow pointing to the door to his left, and a yellow one pointing to the door strait ahead of him. He thought back to what he had heard Rhonda say earlier, she had said they should be able to do it with their eyes closed. And then he figured it out, he put his hand on the panel and sure enough the arrow that was squiggly he could actually feel it, it had small indentations like the ones deaf people used to read. He followed the squiggly line, and he continued to follow those until he reached the back staircase, and finally he rang the bell, he was blindfolded and forced to do it a second time. He passed through it a second time with a run time of 3 minutes and 14 seconds. Then he was brought to a waiting room where he was instructed to wait until the others had gone through the test. He waited for what seemed to be 5 minutes and then he heard the bell, no one came in, and a few minutes later the bell rang again. This time Reynie was brought into the room, and he was also told to wait until the others had passed the test.

"So, how did you get past the maze?" Jared asked.

"I solved the pattern, you?" Reynie asked.

"The same method." Jared replied.

As they were talking Kate was going through the maze right at that very moment.

**Kate**

Kate walked into the room with confidence, she had gotten her bucket back and she knew that she could get past this maze no problem. She knew she had to get to the back of the house so what she did was she looked around the first room, it was a plain room with panels on the wall, but Kate paid no attention to these. She locked her eyes on an air vent on the floor; she got out her Swiss army knife and pried the air vent up, she put her pen light in her mouth, and tied her bucket to her leg and pulled it with her, she reached the end of the vent and found she was at the end of the house like she had predicted she would. She then proceeded to ring the bell. She was brought into a room where she saw Reynie and Jared standing around and talking to each other, they quizzed her on how she passed the test and she told them. Then they told her about the secret puzzle and she realized they were right. They waited around five minutes, then 5 became 10, then 10 became 20, and still no bell rang. Finally they heard a bell ring, and they knew it wouldn't be long before it rang again. About 15 minutes later it rang again and Sticky was brought into the room, they discovered that he had memorized his first path and taken that the exact same way the second time. Then Rhonda returned and said that everything would be explained, she brought them to a study, it was a plain study lined with books everywhere, quite literally; Kate did not take interest in the books she looked at the chair in which there was a single person. He seemed quite like an ordinary person, accept he had glasses, and a quite long nose.

"I am sure you are all wondering why you are here. And all will be explained as soon as the 5th person joins us, Rhonda would you please go find her." The man said.

"I'm on it, she should be somewhere." And Rhonda left to go retrieve the last person. All the children stood around waiting for the person to arrive, little did they know as soon as she did, their lives would be changed forever.


	3. Messages and Mysteries

**Messages and Mysteries**

**Jared**

"Now I am sure you are wondering who I am, my name is Mr. Benedict, and while we wait for our fifth person, why don't I read you some of her answers." Mr. Benedict said taking a paper from his desk.

He flipped through the pages and stopped at a specific area.

"Ah here we go, instead of answers all the questions on the second test, she composed an extremely long poem about how tests and rules are all tools that are used by fools." He said, and he laughed. Then suddenly he fell asleep, and he was sleeping on his desk. A minute later he woke up, "How long was I out?" He asked the test lady.

"About a minute." She said.

"I'm sorry to say I suffer from narcolepsy." Mr. Benedict explained.

"The sleeping condition?" Jared asked.

"Yes"

Before they could say another word a short and rather stout child walked into the room. At first Jared felt sorry for her, and then he didn't after he saw the expression on her face.

"Now then I have gathered you all here for one reason, and it is a rather important reason. But I must ask you, do you know of anything you have in common?" Mr. Benedict said.

"We all came to the tests."

"We all passed."

"We all didn't cheat."

"Were all alone."

On the last one Mr. Benedict taped his nose, and pointed at Reynie.

"Yes, I could not risk placing you in danger unless I was sure, but even without anyone who would miss you I sincerely detest the idea of sending you into such danger. It just…" And then he fell asleep.

"What's up with him?" The girl( Constance Jared believed her name was) asked.

"He has narcolepsy." Jared said.

"He steals a lot?" Constance asked.

"No he falls asleep a lot." Kate said.

After about a minute Mr. Benedict woke up. "How long was I out?" He ask.

"About a minute." The pencil lady said.

"Right, it is getting late, I believe that the explanations would be best left until the morning, for now all of you get some sleep, for you will need it, but before you go off to bed, I need an answer of if you are willing to help, I am sorry to ask this of you, but I must."

"What is the nature of what your asking us to do?" Jared asked.

"I am afraid that the fate of all of us depends on the success of this mission."

"I'm in." Kate said first.

"I'm in too." Reynie said.

"I'll help." Jared said.

"You can't do this without me." Constance mumbled.

"Sticky, I am sorry about your situation and I normally have a policy against runaways, but I believe I can make an exception, will you help?" Mr. Benedict asked.

Slowly Stick shook his head.

"Very well, then all of you get some sleep and I shall explain in the morning." Mr. Benedict said.

And the children were shown to their rooms by Rhonda and the pencil lady (Now identified as number 2). Reynie, Sticky, and Jared were all in the same room due to a lack of space. And there they slept very little, all trying to guess what had happened. Reynie fell asleep last while Jared and Sticky fell asleep first. The next morning however they were all very egger to find out the truth. Then after breakfast they were once again inside the study full of books. But after a few hours they learned that there were hidden messages being broadcast into people's minds and that secret agents were going missing. They even heard a few of the messages, and then the spent several hour learning Morse code and the stories of Sticky and Milligan. They learned a lot about each other and about what they would have to be doing, but one thing they never learned was where they were going. After a while they heard the bell while in the study talking to Mr. Benedict, and for some strange reason Constance had vanished! Then they met up with Milligan, and ran into the maze. They were confronted, and Milligan seemed to have run away from the kidnapers. Jared noticed they had two watches, which seemed to be strange considering what they were.

"Stay still, this won't hurt a bit." The first one said.

"Aw come on tell the truth just once." The second said.

"Fine, this will hurt a lot, but if you don't move it won't hurt for long." The first said.

Suddenly there was a strange sound, like an airsoft gun, and the two men lay unconscious, and behind them was Milligan. He took them back to the study where Mr. Benedict explained that they were there to take the children to the institute, a place where they would have been brainwashed and used for unknown purposes.

"I'm glad you stopped them, that would be the last place I wanted to go." Sticky said.

"Oh but you must go there, willingly. You will be my agents, take no unnecessary risks, find out any information you can and send it to us using Morse code." Mr. Benedict explained.

The next morning the children were admitted into the institute, and strangely Sticky, Jared, and Reynie were all in the same room (Which normally only had 2 per room). Supposedly it was because they had run out of room. After the executive (Jackson was his name) left they switched off the TV. And suddenly a ceiling panel moved. And Kate and Constance dropped into the room. They decided that they would meet in their room because it was the best place for sending messages. They took a tour of the facility, and they were told to avoid the grass (Which they had already figured out) and told not to go there due to dangerous mining shafts. Just after their tour, they were taken into a classroom and met Mr. Curtain, but when they saw him. He looked familiar. He looked like Mr. Benedict.


	4. The Gemini

**The Gemini**

**Jared**

Jared spent the rest of the day thinking, he couldn't figure out why but he knew one thing. They must have been tricked, that was the only explanation. He waited until that night, and they had their first meeting in the dark. The ceiling panel slid open and Constance and Kate came down from the ceiling. They had to do something.

"Mr. Benedict is crazy." Constance said.

"What do we do?" Kate asked, "We've obviously been tricked."

"What I don't understand is why." Stick said.

"I suggest we send a message, if there really is someone watching they could help us figure it out." Jared pointed out.

"Right, wait a minute I see someone. It's Mr. Benedict, I guess I mean Curtain." Reynie said, looking out the window.

"Wait a minute, two executives are coming, oh now they're all leaving." Reynie reported, "Ok lets send the message."

They all agreed on sending a simple yet cryptic message. **When we see Mr c, we see Mr B, how could this be?**

After five minutes they got no reply. They were beginning to worry.

"No one's out there, it was a trap that all of them were in on, we're never getting off this island." Constance grumbled.

"I suggest we send it one more time, and if they don't reply them I'm afraid I have to agree with Constance, we've been tricked." Reynie said.

"And we'll need to find a way off this island." Jared put in.

"Wait a minute, there's a reply coming through. Man when they said cryptic they meant it." Sticky said.

"What does it say?" Kate asked.

**"When looking through my looking glass I spied a trusted face, alas not to be taken for him am I, beware therefore the Gemini**" Sticky quoted.

"It sounds as if Mr. Benedict looked in a mirror and decided that he was not himself. Yep that settles it he is nuts." Kate said.

"But wait a minute he was just here, he couldn't have sent the message." Jared pointed out.

"Then who went it?" Constance asked.

"Maybe it was one of the others trying to warn us." Reynie said.

"What is a Gemini anyways?" Constance asked.

"It's a zodiac sign, an astrological sign that based on the time of your exact birth date." Sticky explained.

"It's basically a sign that is based on your birth for example if your born in July you're a cancer or if your born in august you're a Leo. And so on." Reynie explained.

"I think I may have an idea about the message." Kate said grimly.

"What is it?" Jared asked.

"What if one of us is on Mr. Curtains side, helping get the others here." Kate said, "Sorry it's the only thing I can think of."

"That should be easy then, we just all say our birthdays and see who is a Gemini." Reynie said.

They all proceeded to say their birthdays, all but Constance who saw no point in it.

"I know I'm not a Gemini." She said.

"Then why not tell us?" Kate asked.

"There's no point in this, even if I was a Gemini I could just lie about it. How do we know you're really a Taurus, or what about you Mr. Capricorn, can any of you prove it!" Constance said.

"I think we've misinterpreted the message." Reynie said, "Mr. Benedict would never send a message that would put us against each other."

"But you forget he was just here, he didn't send the message." Kate pointed out.

"Yeah it's not like he can be in two places at once." Sticky said.

"That's it!" Reynie and Jared said at the same time.

The other shushed them (For they had accidentally made a lot of noise.)

"That's it." Reynie said, "Sticky what's the sign for the Gemini?"

"The twin. Wait a minute!" Sticky said with realization.

"Mr. Benedict had a twin who he did not know about until today. They set up the telescopes today and he would have seen Mr. Curtain for the first time today." Jared said.

"But how could he not know about him having a brother." Kate asked.

"He's an orphan, he and his brother must have been split up at birth." Jared said.

"Sticky send them a message that we understand." Reynie said.

"Alright message sent, they're replying, they're saying **Good job, Good Night, Good lu**."

"Why'd you stop?" Kate asked.

"Two executives just sat down on a bench, looks like they're going to stay." Sticky reported.

"But we don't even know what they were going to say!" Constance complained.

"Oh good grief Constance are you serious?" Kate asked.

"Are you? I highly doubt it was good grief, it started with lu." Constance replied.

"I think they were trying to say good luck." Jared said.

"Hmmf, fine I'll accept that." Constance said.

Constance gave her consent to Adjourn the meeting, and they all agreed. They all went to sleep, unaware of Mr. Curtain's plans, including what he had done in the past.

**Curtain**

_Oh how could I be so foolish, how could I not realize it would be them. I just hope they are not able to figure out what I did. With luck they will not figure it out, I just hope I don't make the same mistakes as when I worked with their parents. I just hope they never figure out the true nature of their past._

**Reynie**

The next morning they had plenty of classes, they went through many different classes but today was the hygiene class. Which had seemed pointless, but after the class he, Sticky, and Jared were all asked to stay behind. Martina Crow seemed to be mad at them for some reason, and they soon learned why.

"Well boys I must say I am astonded, I mean astondished." SQ started.

"Astounded." Reynie prompted.

"Astonished." Jared put in helpfully.

"Yes those too. Frankly I am impressed you boys have been getting perfect test scores, which is quite rare."

"Is that why Martina is mad at us?" Jared asked.

"Yes, you see those messenger positions are something you have to work for, you must stay at the top of your class, so you three are a threat to her. Though tell me, how is it you are getting perfect test scores? It's unlikely anyone is helping you." SQ continued.

"I remember things." Sticky said.

"I work hard." Reynie and Jared said at the same time.

"Hmm, remembering things and working hard, both good qualities. Keep it up and you will be messengers in no time." SQ said.

They left the room, with hope in their hearts.


End file.
